Inside Small Business | Small Business & Home Business Marketing

The Trouble with Software

Dave Mount, Founder, jSoup Software

The other day, I called my local auto shop for an appointment. Before long, I could tell that something was wrong. “Do you still live at Park Place?” I had moved from that address almost 4 years ago. “What kind of service do you need?” Typically, I turn that question around. Since I only take my car one place for service, someone usually can tell me what service is due within a few seconds. This time it took a few minutes and a lot of extra effort to boot. As she was piecing together bits of history, the receptionist admitted that they were having some trouble with their new computer system. Of course, I already knew that.

I write software for a living, so I have learned to expect certain things from computers. Number one: computers always do what someone has told them to. That does not mean that computers always do what you want them to, but behind every drop-down list, button click and spinning hourglass is a set of instructions that can be traced back to a programmer’s fingers at a keyboard. The problem is that life can get complicated and difficult to describe in logical terms. Unfortunately, all a computer understands is logic.

Number two: all software has bugs, which can be the result of incorrect instructions (bad programming) or design flaws (bad thinking). Usually what is called the “point oh” release, as in version 1.0, has the most bugs. As bugs are discovered and fixed, new “patches” or “point releases” are provided and the software becomes more reliable. Software backed by good support should, at some point, become virtually bug free because the remaining problems are obscure or insignificant.

Number three: new things cause problems. While this point likely applies to more than software, it is especially pervasive in dealing with computer systems. Any time you change your hardware or software, even to make improvements, some amount of pain is involved. It is wise to be prepared for system glitches, to make a practice run or two with the new before unplugging the old, and to work with vendors that offer helpful customer support. A little discomfort shouldn’t stand in the way of progress, and to some degree it is unavoidable.

My local auto shop will get past the pain it is having, and the new system is likely to be an improvement over the old one. The couple of extra minutes I had to spend on the phone didn’t bother me. I am loyal to them because they are honest with me and provide a great service. If anything, my sympathies go out to any company struggling with a new computer system. Who knows? Perhaps I’ll get a chance to help them fix it.

Author

Dave Mount is the President of jSoup Software, which he founded in 2004. He has been in the software industry for almost 14 years as a software architect and developer. Dave graduated from Cornell University in 1993 with a degree in Engineering Physics and lived in Japan during the mid-90’s. He now lives in San Ramon, California, with his wife and kids.

These days, jSoup is focused on developing interactive websites. We are also happy to answer any questions you may have, especially about software and Web development. Direct inquiries to ask@jsoup.com.

           

Posted on Tuesday, April 3rd, 2007 at 1:18 pm and is filed under Computers, Small Business, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.